ISLAMABAD: Minister of Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Fazaz Thursday said smart lockdown strategy had started paying dividends as sealing of multiple areas did help in curbing the spread of coronavirus.

The minister said: "Implementation of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in letter and spirit is sole option to curtail the infection rate in the country."

Talking to media after visiting Sector G-7/2, sealed by ICT Administration to stem virus spread and ensure public safety, Shibli said he had specially come to the locality to assess the ground situation, following Prime Minister Imran Khan's instruction in this regard.

He said smart lockdown had been imposed in specific localities, that had been declared hot-spot on the basis of statistics by Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration. He said special arrangements had been made by the Local Administration in sealed areas to facilitate the residents with regard to provision of medicines and other grocery items.

He said the local administration had effectively been monitoring the situation in these areas and added Additional Deputy Commissioner-General Omer Randawa gave a detailed briefing on the smart lockdown strategy.

Shibli said he was informed that the situation in sector G-9 had markedly improved with a significant decline in the number of new COVID cases.

He appealed to the masses to strictly follow the SOPs and adopt key principles - social-distancing and mask-wearing - to ensure their themselves and others from the virus. "So far, no specific medicine is available in the market for treatment of the coronavirus, thus social distancing is the only effective way to combat the pandemic." To a query, he said the assessment of specific media persons about the instability of the government, was storm in a teacup.

He said the prime minister Imran Khan, deliberated upon the budget, coronavirus and other major issues in his National Assembly speech. He said it was only Prime Minister Imran Khan who could tackle current challenges. "The nation should be proud of such leadership which has been handling the crisis quite adeptly," he added. NNI